Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-10-23

precious stones, anu wines. no onSS
walked past the guard, unchallenged,
into the presence of Secretary Stanton
and sold him 10000 stand OF arms at
splendid profit. He was wholly I'M
known to Mr.. Stanton, but gave that
statesman his assurance that he was
"honest John Pondir," and that his
word was better than his bond. bis
great pride in life is his son, Rufus
Hatch Pondir. When the youngster
had worked his shrewd father IN some
petty transaction the elder Hebrew
remarked proudly to friend j; IAN,
dat boy Rufey, he is good one lie
does my heart goot. BE will get along
all right in Wall street"
POLITICIANS LIFE.
The working side of a politician life
in New York city would compare point
edly with that of the much-abused rail
way president, who is, | believe, con-
sidered the hardest worked man in con-
temporary business life. There IS no
Judging Of the life of q man from eX-
ternal indications. | remember view
ing with a good deal of admiration a
livery stable keeper whose mammoth
establishment l passed every day on
nv way to and from school when was
boy. He apparently did nothing but
sit in a comfortable and atfectlonate
ann. chair, pick his teeth, smoke huge
cigar geDially, and devote the balance
of the day to leisurely inspection OF
his finger-nails ard well-poliShed boots.
Occasionally he would have a
horse led out in front of him
by one of The grooms, and after
he had looked at him with more or less
solemnity for few minutes would give
some order about bolus, the proper
height Of n new shoe, or the advisa-
biity of letting out little blood. As
| grew older / saw him increase In girth
and expansiyeness and wealth. Appa-
Iently be did nothing. For years the
synonym of absolute leisure in my
mind was the keeper Of the crack
| livery-stable. One morning | came IN
on an owl train from the country.
stopped to a late supper, and padded
by the livery-stable about 3 o'clock. 1t
was still dark, Of course, but there was
| a light in the harness. room, and there
saw my ideal of complacency in his I'M
dershirt and pair of overalls work
ing away with three of his men
in style that would have astOunded
piize athlete. He cleaned more
harness in two minutes than the
others did in five. glued my nose
against the glass and watched him until
he saw me, and then | was asked to
come in. / learned that his hours were
probably more arduous than those of a
man in any other business. He never
| cot to bed until o'clock, as it was
necessary to get things in order in the
stable before retiring. There was a
constant fear of fire, no insurance on
horses that were valuable, and it need
ed good deal of intelligence to deal
with the men who came in more or less
exhilarated from drives up the road at
late hours of the night. Though he
did not retire until nearly o'clock bis
presence at horse sales, auctions, a.,
was absolutely necessary Mt 10 every
morning in the different livery ex-
changes. 1t needs constant replenish-
ing, it would seem, to keep a crack
livery -stable going.
| was no more surprised in the rcve-
lations in THIS mans life than | was
this morning when | dropped in to see
a local politician at his Office. He IS
one Of the big commissioners of New
York. | had known him for ten years,
but bad never before seen him in har-
ness. His personality IS synonymous
with good nature and amiability. He
has a favolitc way Of standing on street
corners with a group OF friends, as if
wondering how to employ his time I'M
ill night. sitting leisurely with groups
around the tables in prominent cafeS,
and strolling on tue sunny side OF the
more popular streets. l never knew
him to be in a hurry in my life, and
though | knew him to be at the head Of
n large establishment and supposed he
must necessarily have some business re-
probabilities it never occurred to me
that be did any work.
was ar nsed from bed this morning
by the weeping and wailing and gnash-
ing of teeth of the mother of "A small
but faithful stenographer of mine who
fell last night from grace and decamped
from his present employers without
due notice. The boy was caught and
his mother was Northumberland be-
cause he was caught, however, but on
account OF his original offence. | hur-
ried down to the commissioners Office
with her because he was the only man
| could think of in town who had an
absolute pull in the district in which
the trouble occurred. / went to his
Office to get his address, for it was then
only 8 o'clock, and | never imagined
for moment that he got to his place of
business before 1890 He was there
and had been there more than half
hour. Three secretaries were around
q huge table with his papers and docu-
ments in orderly rows in front of them,
That was in a public building, and a
crowd of heelers, politicians, men in
search of work, laborers, &c, were
ranged around the room even at that
carly hour. Two type-writers were
printing his letters as he dictated them.
His hands shook, and he was still suffer
ing from lack of sleep and neces-
sary rest. / explained things to him,
and sat by his side an hour after
he had dispatched the necessary
letters and kilograms and sent one Of
his aids up with the old woman. | may
remark incidentally, as showing the in
fluence of q big politician in New York,
that the boy was free and at the Office
within an hour and everything salts
lactorily arranged. / stayed until II
o'clock smoking and watching the rou-
tine of business and then We went ont
to breakfast. After that the politician
was shaved, brushed, and generally
adorned, and braced up by champagne
cocktail went out lounging on his way,
a man of leisure before the whole world.
The amount Of work he had done be.
fore he made his public appearance
would have made the average business
man, even of New York or Chicago, a
wreck for the day.
HOUSEKEEPING.
New York is the best and the worst
city in America in which to keep house,
Charles Delmonico, the present head OF
the famous restaurant firm, declares
that you can get more for shilling
and less for pound in Paris or Lon
don than in New York. The epigram
applies in a great measure to house